A groundbreaking public health effort to prioritize maternal mental health is moving forward in Suriname, bringing together cross-sector partners to tackle a long-overlooked issue that impacts thousands of women and their families across the country. Stichting Perisur, in close collaboration with Suriname’s Ministry of Public Health, Labor and Welfare, and the Rotary Club Paramaribo Residence, has launched a national program designed to equip frontline healthcare workers with the tools and training needed to identify perinatal and postpartum mental health concerns earlier and connect patients to appropriate, timely support.
More than 50 stakeholders, including practicing clinicians, public health policy leaders, and academic researchers, gathered for the program’s official launch event on Friday. Organizers note that the high turnout for the gathering underscores growing recognition of how critical maternal mental health is to the overall strength of Suriname’s healthcare system.
During the opening sessions, participants highlighted a troubling gap in current care: mental health struggles during and after pregnancy very often go undetected, even though these conditions carry severe, long-lasting consequences for both maternal well-being and child development. By prioritizing early identification and streamlined referral pathways, the initiative’s backers aim to reinforce the quality of care available to new and expecting mothers across the nation.
Deputy Minister of Public Health, Labor and Welfare Raj Jadnanansing emphasized the scale of the unaddressed crisis in his opening remarks. He shared that an estimated 90% of maternal mental health conditions currently go untreated in Suriname, placing unnecessary, significant strain on both the national healthcare system and broader Surinamese society.
Neuropsychologist Sila Kisoensingh from Kliniek Kiros presented local prevalence data to contextualize the need for intervention. Her figures show that 27.5% of pregnant people in Suriname experience clinically high levels of stress during pregnancy, while between 18% and 22% develop postpartum depression following childbirth. Kisoensingh reinforced that consistent, early recognition and targeted support are critical to improving long-term outcomes for affected women.
A core component of the new program is the newly developed Maternity Mental Health Checklist, a practical screening tool created to support general practitioners, midwives, and other frontline care providers in spotting early warning signs of perinatal and postpartum mental distress. The checklist was officially introduced by physician and researcher Simran Mokiem during the launch event.
In addition to rolling out the screening tool, Ashna Hindori-Mohangoo, lead researcher at Stichting Perisur, announced a forthcoming pilot study that will measure the real-world effectiveness of the early detection framework. Throughout the day, participating healthcare professionals took part in interactive working sessions to practice using the new checklist, discuss best practices for holding confidential, non-judgmental conversations with expecting patients, and clarify protocols for when referral to specialized mental health care is required. Participants shared on-the-ground clinical experiences during these sessions, which collectively confirmed that maternal mental health concerns are far more common than routine care systems currently acknowledge.
Afternoon sessions focused on refining and standardizing referral protocols for women who require specialized mental health support, a key infrastructure gap the program seeks to address. Initiative leaders frame the effort as a foundational step toward building a fully integrated, accessible approach to maternal mental health care across Suriname. By fostering sustained collaboration between government agencies, clinical institutions, civil society organizations, and research teams, the program aims to both expand public awareness of the issue and improve access to evidence-based care for all expecting and new mothers in the country.
The launch event concluded with formal agreements outlining the next phases of national rollout, with a shared ambition to integrate the new screening tools and care protocols into public health systems across Suriname. Organizers emphasized a core guiding principle: investing in the mental health of mothers is ultimately an investment in the long-term health and well-being of children, families, and the entire Surinamese community.